Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) is a well-known device communication protocol. With TCP/IP, when communication between devices is performed, IP addresses are used as information for identifying the devices. When TCP/IP is used, a predetermined unique IP address needs to be allocated to each of the devices on the network.
There is a method of deciding the IP address of each of the devices on a network. In this method, an IP address is allocated to each device such that addresses do not overlap, the IP addresses are recorded in internal recording devices, and each device uses its recorded IP address when it starts operating.
Furthermore, there is another method of deciding the IP addresses of each device in a network called Reverse Address Resolution Protocol (RARP) (Non Patent Literature 1). With RARP, when a device starts operating, it broadcasts an RARP message onto the network, and an RARP server provided on the network responds to the RARP message and sends an IP address to the transmission source device via the network.
Further, there are alternative IP address distribution methods to the RARP, such as BOOTstrap Protocol (BOOTP) and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). In any of these methods, an IP address is decided as it is sent to the corresponding device.